So-called watchdog units, which monitor the execution of software on a microcontroller of a control unit for a motor vehicle, are widely available. A status inquiry is transmitted by the watchdog unit to a first monitoring unit, which is implemented, for example, on a first processor core of a multicore processor. A status response is ascertained by the first monitoring unit as a function of the status inquiry. A fault is ascertained by the watchdog unit as a function of the status response.
In addition, the conventional so-called three-layer concept makes possible reliable operation of a control unit of a motor vehicle with high availability and simultaneously low degree of complexity and, therefore, low costs.
A method for controlling a drive unit of a vehicle is described in German Patent No. DE 44 38 714 A1. Only a single computing element (microcomputer), which performs both the control and the monitoring, is provided for controlling the power of the drive unit.
A method for monitoring a technical system is described in German Patent Application No. DE 103 31 872 A1. A control-unit-wide software frame, which is implemented in the control units, in particular, in the computing elements of the control units, carries out the monitoring and/or regulation of the application software of the control unit.
German Patent Application No. DE 101 13 917 A1 describes a method for monitoring data and transmitting the data between at least a first and a second control unit. Data acquired by a component are transmitted securely by the first to the second control unit over a single connection. Separate safeguarding of the data and the data transmission in the first and second program levels is carried out in such a manner, that errors in the data and in the data transmission are detected.